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After the idea, it’s all about execution. In
fact, it’s not clear that even the idea is all that important.
Most investors tell me that an A entrepreneur with a B idea is
much more fundable than a B entrepreneur with an A idea. It’s
great to be a visionary, inventor, thinker, or a dreamer, but
none of these matter in the business world if you are not also a
do-er.

According to Professor Sean Wise, who claims to have worked with
more than 15,000 entrepreneurs (including many with the popular
TV shows Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den), no matter how great the
idea and the opportunity, in the end it is only the execution
that creates change and generates wealth.

Never fails to be an evangelist. This
entrepreneur gets out there and actively looks for people who
can help make an idea into a business, including potential
customers, suppliers, employees, investors, friends and
peers. No secret discussions about the great idea, or
paranoia that someone else will steal it.

Willing to listen, and will address skeptical
views. Good executors always ask the hard questions,
and don’t let people get away with saying just what they want
to hear. They dig deep, and keep asking questions until they
understand what you don’t like or won’t work, and even offer
do some homework before getting back with a better answer.

Proactively sets metrics and track goals.
There are more things in a business to keep track of than any
single human being can accomplish without a serious project
management mindset. Good implementers find a way to translate
long-term goals into daily action items, and make sure
everyone is “singing from the same song book.”

Ties rewards to performance results.
Effective business people work hard to align everyone in the
organization toward key metrics. They don’t hire friends, or
just pay people for showing up and looking busy. A properly
designed rewards structure is the most powerful tool for
mobilizing the team to meet business success objectives.

Ties organizational structure to strategy.
The entrepreneur who can execute quickly identifies strategic
value chain activities and can quickly communicate who’s in
charge of each one, so these key activities don’t fall
between the cracks. This doesn’t require that all traditional
titles be filled, to impress investors, or due to a lack of
imagination.

Willing to question assumptions and adapt.
Most successful startups make several major pivots early in
their business lives. The chances of your first business plan
being correct are very low, so great entrepreneurs take
ownership of their plan and make it a living document. Others
commit to stay the blind course, and will probably fail.

Entrepreneur is a personal role model. Not
only does an entrepreneur breathe life into the company, but
they also instill their values, passion, and work ethic. If
they can’t make and keep commitments, neither will the
company. Investors recognize difficult personalities and
large egos as high risk for effective execution.

Of course, entrepreneur evaluation, as well as opportunity
evaluation, is a highly subjective process. We all have biases
that can trick us into making bad decisions on people, as well as
ideas. Thus the best entrepreneurs, and the best investors, spend
more time trying to find information that refutes their beliefs,
rather than more data which might support a bias.

Certainly, successful implementation requires an understanding of
the "big picture," but the devil is in the details. Yet leading
for execution is definitely not about micro-managing people or
doing it all yourself. It is about “owning” the process, leading
others by example, with no excuses.

We have all heard lots of entrepreneurs proclaiming that their
idea is the “best you will ever see!” But every investor and
advisor I know has to think a long time before they can talk
about the best execution they have ever seen. How many do you
know?